Judges 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ¹  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ²  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ³ 

Judges 3:19

3:19 But he went back ⁴  once he reached ⁵  the carved images ⁶  at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, ⁷  “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon ⁸  said, “Be quiet!” ⁹  All his attendants left.

Judges 3:21

3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s ¹⁰  belly.

Judges 3:20

3:20 When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated ¹¹  upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God ¹²  for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat, ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.

³ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

⁴ tn Or “returned” (i.e., to Eglon’s palace).

⁵ tn The words “when he reached” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text simply reads “from.”

⁶ tn Or “idols.”

⁷ tn The words “to Eglon” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Or “Hush!”

⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Eglon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Or “cool.” This probably refers to a room with latticed windows which allowed the breeze to pass through. See B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 144.

¹¹ tn Heb “word of [i.e., from] God.”

¹² tn Or “throne.”